Williamsburg Bridge
}} The Williamsburg Bridge is a in across the connecting the Lower East Side of at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of on at Broadway near the ( ). It once carried and later Interstate 78. Construction on the bridge began in 1896, with as chief engineer, as architect and Holton D. Robinson as assistant engineer, and the bridge opened on December 19, 1903 at a cost of $12,000,000. At the time it was constructed, the Williamsburg Bridge was the largest suspension bridge on Earth, and remained so until the was completed in 1924. It is an unconventional structure, as suspension bridges go; though the main span hangs from cables in the usual manner, the side spans leading to the approaches are cantilevered, drawing no support from the cables above. The main span of the bridge is 1600 feet (488 m) long. The entire bridge is 7308 feet (2227 m) long between cable anchor terminals, and the deck is 118 feet (36 m) wide. The height at the center of the bridge is 135 feet (41 m) and each tower is 335 feet (102 m); these measurements taken from the river's surface at high water mark. According to the film Over The East River published in 1919 by the , the bridge had four trolleys, two cable tracks, two roadways, and two foot walks. The bridge is one of only two suspension bridges in New York City to currently carry both vehicle and rail traffic. (The Manhattan Bridge is the other.) The Brooklyn landing is between Grand Street and Broadway, which both had ferries at the time. Both withered and went out of business in the following years. The Williamsburg Bridge is featured in the movies (1945) and (1948) and the novel (1994) by . The bridge has been under reconstruction since the 1980s, largely to repair damage caused by decades of deferred maintenance. The cast iron stairway on the Manhattan side, and the steep ramp from Driggs Avenue on the Williamsburg side to the footwalks, were replaced to allow handicapped access in the 1990s. The bridge celebrated its 100th anniversary in December 2003. No tolls are charged for motor vehicles to use the bridge. Had the been built, the Williamsburg Bridge would have obtained the Interstate 78 designation. Rail tracks The rapid transit tracks in the center of the bridge were initially used by the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company elevated railroad. Today, the New York City Subway , , and trains use these tracks. Two tracks on the south side carried streetcars from the Brooklyn side: *Williamsburg Bridge Local, 1904-1948 *Nostrand Avenue Line, 1904-1923 and 1931-1948 *Ralph Avenue Line, 1905-1908; Ralph and Rockaway Avenues Line, 1908-1923 and 1931-1948 *Tompkins Avenue Line, 1906-1923 and 1931-1947 *Reid Avenue Line, 1904-1923 and 1931-1937 *Broadway Line, 1904-1923 *Franklin Avenue Line, 1904-1923 *Grand Street Line, 1904-1923 *Sumner Avenue Line, 1904-1923 *Wilson Avenue Line, 1904-1923 *Bushwick Avenue Line, 1904-1921 *Nostrand-Culver Line and Nostrand-Prospect Line, 1906-1919 Two north-side tracks carried Manhattan streetcars: *Grand Street Line, 1904-1932 *Post Office Line, 1919-1932 *Seventh Avenue-Brooklyn Line, 1911-1919 *8th Street Crosstown Line, 1904-1911 *14th Street-Williamsburg Bridge Line, 1904-1911 *Fourth Avenue and Williamsburg Bridge Line, 1904-1911 References *Abandoned Stations: Williamsburg Bridge Railway terminal External links *Bridges at New York City DOT *structurae.deWilliamsburg Bridge entry *HAER Williamsburg Bridge entry at the Library of Congress *nycroads.com Williamsburg page. Has excellent construction photos (taken from Parsons Transportation Group (parsons.com site), the successor company to the design firm that executed the original desing) as well as replacement bridge proposal details }} |bridge = Williamsburg Bridge |bridge signs = |upstream = 14th Street Tunnel |upstream signs = |downstream = Rutgers Street Tunnel |downstream signs = }}